Info for Retired Canadians living in DR

AnnaC

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Jan 2, 2002
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We've had discussions lately about the Canadian Health Insurance Plan and the rules of moving to the DR, so it got me thinking of all the rules regarding CPP (Canadian Pension Plan) OAS (Old Age Security) and GIS ( Guaranteed Income Supplement)

This is for all of Canada regardless of which province you live in.

Canada Pension Plan:You qualify for a CPP retirement pension if you have made at least one valid contribution (payment) to the Plan and if:

you are at least 65; or
you are between 60 and 64, and meet the earning requirements set out in the legislation. (See the next question for details.)
Your retirement pension does not start automatically. You must apply for it (unless you already receive a CPP disability benefit and turn 65, at which point your disability benefit automatically changes to a retirement pension).

Can you receive CPP payments outside Canada?
Yes, as long as you are eligible to receive a benefit, you can receive your payment anywhere in the world. It will be paid in Canadian dollars. If you live in the United States and have direct deposit to a US financial institution, the funds are automatically converted to US dollars.

Old Age Security:

Category 1-People living in Canada
You are 65 or older.
You live in Canada and are a Canadian citizen or a legal resident at the time your pension is approved.
You lived in Canada for at least 10 years after reaching age 18.

Category 2-People living outside CanadaYou are 65 or older.
You left the country and you were a Canadian citizen or a legal resident of Canada when you left.
You lived in Canada for at least 20 years after reaching age 18.

GIS (Guaranteed Income Supplement)
The Government of Canada designed the Guaranteed Income Supplement to assist low-income pensioners living in Canada. For this reason, if you leave Canada we will only pay you for the month you leave, and for six months after that. Then your payments will stop. For example, if you leave Canada in January, we will send payments until the end of July. After July, the payments will stop. You have an obligation to tell us when you plan to be outside the country for more than six months.

If you do stay outside Canada for longer than six months, you can always re-apply when you return to live in Canada.

So to sum it up, the ONLY reasons to return to Canada every six months are:
If you qualify and want to continue your GIS payments and if you wish to continue your health insurance. Otherwise you can live in the DR forever and not worry about it.

This is a BIG relief for me. I'm not that far from thinking about all this and I had so much misinformation from people that have lived in the DR for many years and have told me things like " Oh well the Canadian Goverment doesn't know I live down here" :rolleyes: The laws have changed!

Click here to get the info

BTW if you look on the left hand side of that site you will see an icon that says : E- services. You can now get your pension income statements online in order to do your "income tax return" How great is this internet stuff?
 
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bob saunders

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Jan 1, 2002
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I've sent an e-mail off to the tax people to find out how much with-holding tax(normally 25%) they will take off your pensions. Canada doesn't have an agreement with the DR and the DR doesn't tax foreign pensions. When I have an answer I'll post it.
 

ricktoronto

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Jan 9, 2002
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We and They do have a treaty, actually

bob saunders said:
Canada doesn't have an agreement with the DR and the DR doesn't tax foreign pensions. When I have an answer I'll post it.

There is an existing Canada/DR tax treaty (from 1976) and the withholding for pensions is 18%. Or less if you were to file a return in Canada and you owed less than 18% which with personal exemption etc., is possible. Depends on the pension size really. You find existing treaties at the Finance web sites not the CCRA web sites, BTW.

http://www.fin.gc.ca/scripts/Public...itle=Canada-Dominican+Republic+Tax+Convention

Then they e-mail you the PDF file.

Here's the link for general non-resident advice: http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/t4131/t4131-e.html#P194_19349
 

bob saunders

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Thanks, Rick. My pension will only be about $40,000 Canadian per year, but if I can figure a way not to pay taxes i will, especially with all the income tax we Canucks pay.
 

ricktoronto

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Jan 9, 2002
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Hey 18% At Most is a Deal

bob saunders said:
Thanks, Rick. My pension will only be about $40,000 Canadian per year, but if I can figure a way not to pay taxes i will, especially with all the income tax we Canucks pay.

I strongly suggest using a C.A. with experience in ex-pat/non-residents to get all the straight dope, to make sure the forms are files with CCRA to get rid of resident status and to make sure the payor ( private pension, etc.) is made aware of the 18% withholding tax at source.

The other thing is to find a safe destination for those pension funds. Assuming I retire to the DR in 9 years which is my aim (at the ripe age of 54) I sure will not have my precious pension funds going to a bank in the DR, so you should consider a CDN bank in Bahamas, Cayman, Turks/Caicos, etc. as a payee bank so you can access $ via ATM, etc. and not risk it in DR based banks.

Because you need to take the bank accounts out of Canada as part of the non-resident thing unless you can convince the CCRA they are staying open for safety/liquidity purposes.
 

OttawaTom

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Dec 15, 2002
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Maybe a dumb question, but why wouldn't you just leave your pension "direct deposit" into the Canadian bank, and use ATMs to withdraw?

Tom